I just found out that my favorite Sandman arc is the most universally

>>93279047
It's very different to the rest of the series, mostly because of the lack of focus on Dream. It's a lengthy departure from the norm for the series - if Sandman can even be said to have a norm.

In any case, it's acquired a hatedom over the past few years as the internet contrarianism pendulum has swung right-wing. An explicitly feminist story with a transsexual character is a natural target for the "nerds" who tend to read comics.

Also the best Sandman arc is Season of Mists

>>93279047
It was pretty fucking boring.
The best Sandman arc is World's End.

>>93279047
>>93279621
I've always HEARD about people hating it and considering it the weakest arc but I've never met anyone here who actually claims to hate it. Feels like a bit of hearsay that got blown out of proportion. The only genuine hate I've seen for it was tumblrites attacking Neil for not being progressive enough with Wanda, as if it wasn't the most important and best written representation trannies got in comics for that entire decade.

I quite like it but I read a lot of fantasy as a kid, I'm kind of the target audience. I really was unimpressed with Seasons of Mist the last time I reread the series, it's a great high concept (DREAM HAS TO GIVE AWAY HELL WITHOUT PISSING OFF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE) but not a lot of actually interesting stuff, it just dumps a load of cool side characters into the plot and ties up loose ends. The best part of it is easily the one shot introducing the Dead Boy Detectives. That's one of my favorite issues.

You're all fucking idiots. Brief Lives is the peak of the series and, for that matter, Gaiman's entire career.

>>93279706
So the strom in World's End is a universal reboot right?
Zero Hour was happening around that time wasn't it?

>>93280079
The storm happened because Dream died.

>>93280281
World's End took place before that

>>93279047
I thought it was really dull.

>>93280461
Reality storms only happen after important events, and the arc finishes with Dream's funeral procession, so it may have something to do with Dream's death being already inevitable.

>>93279939
>as if it wasn't the most important and best written representation trannies got in comics for that entire decade.
no representation at all is better than "sexual deviant dies tragically after even the moon confirms she's fake"
especially since just earlier in the series he featured a serial killer who specifically targeted trans women
i understand that plenty of sjws disagree with me on this, but not every story has to include minority representation, especially if the author doesn't know how to handle it well.

>>93279047
It's my favorite too. Neil also said it's his favorite.

It's the only piece of Sandman that made me truly care.

Honestly even the worst parts of Sandman are still miles above most other comics. I thought A Game of You was pretty good, but again Sandman is quality throughout.

>>93279047
I didn't hated it, but it was one of the weakest arcs

A Game of You did something I absolutely love in fiction which is take a minor character seen earlier and expand on them greatly. Barbie was basically a joke gimmick character (Barbie and Ken, get it?) in the second volume and then I was suddenly blown away when she got full development three volumes later, becoming a three-dimensional character. I adored it.

>>93282813

Yeah I had the same line of thinking. But at the same time, it was focusing on a character in another character's story who was far more interesting.

>>93282649
you shouldn't listen to the moon, the moon is transphobic

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I really like how most characters are not forgotten in Sandman's development. Thesally was a total bitch during A Game Of You yet in The Wake I totally fell for her.
>>93279706
World's End is the worst arc in my opinion. Besides the art was off for me.
>>93282649
>no representation at all is better than "sexual deviant dies tragically after even the moon confirms she's fake"
Who cares about the Moon, she's just an old bitch who doesn't understand shit about humans. Who cares about Wanda's family? They didn't knew her.
You missed the point if you think Wanda is confirmed as fake. I think it was well handled and a realistic approach about how trans have to deal with the shit that comes at them for their decisions.
If a harsh world triggers you that's not anyones problem. Minorities being "did nothing wrong and nothing bad should happen to them ever" is bad handling, Wanda's outcome was brutal and actually makes an impact in you (or maybe that was just me, whatever) as a reader, which is what stories are supposed to do.

>>93280647
I thought it was Despair's funeral

>>93280021
This. It's the climax of Sandman. The rest is falling action.

>>93279047
Don't worry you're in good company; Neil says it's his favorite too.

>>93279047
It's probably my favorite one honestly
The worst one is obviously World's End

>>93286492
I think it's implied that there was a previous reality storm, and that one was Despair's.

Middle issue had bad art.
The middle of the story was really slow and heavy.
Great ending, loved the Cuckoo.

y'know, if you read them all as one big continuum you wouldn't have to pick a favourite because you'd just like Sandman

you could say 'Sandman is the best Sandman' or if you fancied a little frisson of controversy 'i like the one with Sandman in it', but in either case, you wouldn't have your feelings hurt by people who want you to stop liking what they don't like, because you'd all agree that Sandman is good

hope that helps

>>93286303
Regardless of what those around her saw her as or how they treated her, Wanda was herself, in the end, when she greeted Death, and that was all that mattered

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>>93289647
Except Sandman isn't a continuum, it's a series of short comic issues bunched into longer story arcs, written over like, half a decade. Some of those arcs are better stories than others - like World's End - and some are worse, like most of Preludes And Nocturnes.

>>93290925
except Sandman's short stories are all about people living in the Sandman universe written by Neil Gaiman kinda like a series of books by the same author and they're pretty easy to read as one long series of stories about Sandman and if you do that you wil b less frigten of sharn ur feelnz about Sansman wif other and haf happy daze insted of sads

>>93290925
I adore Preludes and Nocturnes. Mainly because it's Gaiman doing his own version of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. It's very different from the rest of the series but there's no shame in that.

>>93291518
that kinda petered out, are you having a stroke, anon

>>93291738
that you cared enough about my thoughts to read to the end, means a lot to me anon - thank you

>>93291694
>Mainly because it's Gaiman doing his own version of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing.
That's something I hadn't considered before, and it defnitely changes my view on it. I still think P+N is weaker than the rest of the series, mostly because it's not as ambitious. It's weird seeing all the cameos from other DC characters, too - I think it detracts from the tone. Makes it seem cheaper.

>>93291924
Fair points, but it is laying the ground for everything that comes later. Hard to do that without a solid foundation. Swamp Thing's mixture of regular DC superheroes with hard edged 80s horror is something I love, so Gaiman doing his own version of that I automatically liked. It detracts from Sandman's own world I agree but it adds immeasurably to the regular DC universe that you have stuff like this going on in the sidelines (or rather more accurately the foreground considering the sheer scale of the threat) while the likes of Superman and Batman are completely unaware.

>>93291518
>easy to read as one long series of stories

Key word there is stories

If you didn't cry (or at least feel really sorry) for Wanda then get out of my face.